According to Tourish, in his usage the word cult is not a term of abuse. “It is nothing more than a shorthand expression for a particular set of practices that have been observed in a variety of dysfunctional organisations."

Thanks for posting. I guess I would ask Tourish to elaborate how something dysfunctional can not have some form of abuse. Example?

I find the post by ¨disengaged very accurate when describing BB as a POLITICAL CULT, and certainly true to our experience in dealing with what BB calls "the inner" group. Regarding this last question about doesn´t a "dysfunction" already imply abuse, the very definition (in any dictionary) assumes negative connotations showing that indeed it does. Probably Tourish is trying to diminish the controversy and to be diplomatic. Just looking at those seven destructive consequences in the post, the abuse and exploitation they generate in human behavior is obvious. In fact, those seven consequences listed are SOOOO dysfunctional and out of balance that they practically illustrate a slow and torturous process of self-destruction equivalent to the one described by ex-members of BB, and very likely causing suicidal tendencies and thoughts.

In addition, although for the Israeli "inner" circle is a much more clear matter of global Zionist political power, the followers in the rest of the world are lured through spiritual and religious claims turned into dogmas, so we can say that BB has a dual aspect of Cult: both political and religious.

Thanks for the posts. If it's ok, we would like to include them in future blog articles at bbkabbalah-thetruth.com, what's more, if any of you would like to contribute to the site, either with additional information or describing your personal experience, please contact us. There is a contact form on the site, or you can send me a private message here.

Hello again.

Tourish was criticized for applying the cult paradigm to [Militant Tendency’s] in his book On the Edge: Political Cults Right and Left, which led to him defend the use of the term cult in "Introduction to ‘Ideological Intransigence, Democratic Centralism and Cultism" [www.whatnextjournal.co.uk]

The case study which had served as the basis for the chapter of On the Edge was reprinted as an article "Ideological Intransigence, Democratic Centralism and Cultism: A Case Study", Dennis Tourish which is republished online at this website as well as What Next? Journal website: [www.culteducation.com] and [www.whatnextjournal.co.uk]

Hope this is helpful. My conclusion is that it doesn't matter what name you call it, Bnei Baruch is a dysfunctional organization with a number of identifiable destructive consequences. And it is definitely not kabbalah.

Please feel free to reprint any information contained in my posts that is helpful. I am familiar with your blog, registered User ID: hopeanon1. My opinion as to the religious aspect of Bnei Baruch Cult has been posted (3/29/23) at Godlike Productions, Anonymous Coward User ID: 34822642.

I very much appreciate the Cult Education Forums Rick Ross and Godlike Productions as well as your blog for investigation and support at exit. Thank you.

According to recent blog post on Laitman.com (The World Awaits New Ideas, June 19, 2103), Michael Laitman has had several interviews with Michael Khazin “discussing the possibility of revealing integral education to the world.” (interview sample at kabbalah.info/engkab/kabbalah-worldwide/interview-with-michael-khazin)

Michael Khazin is President of the Consulting Firm Neokon and founder of the website Worldcrisis.ru. Additionally, Michael Khazin is member of the Russian Socio-Political Party, Mezhdunarodnoe “Evraziiskoe dvizhe-nie” (MED; International Eurasian Movement) founded by Aleksandr Dugin, a prominent advocate of fascist and anti-Western views. Dugin also heads the youth wing of the Eurasia Party, “Eurasian Youth Union.” According to the youth movement website,: “Our Union has one absolute enemy. It is the USA. This is the beginning and the end of our hatred.” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Youth_Union)

If Dugin’s views become more widely accepted, promulgated by Laitman’s “Integral Education” program, it is logical that we should expect an increasingly aggressive racist ideology from Bnei Baruch in the coming years.

from a 5 year x member of BB:

“So whoever wants to tell a lie will first lay a foundation of truth and then construct the lie.” (Zohar I:2b) This, in a nutshell, has been my experience with Michael Laitman and Bnei Baruch. If you should have the patience to read my story, you will understand why I am sharing it. Some background…I was initially drawn to Kabbalah by Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman-Nachmanides), who shared a hint of his Kabbalistic insights in his Commentary to the Pentateuch. This led me to searching The Zohar and additional books by contemporary scholars and Rabbis blending Jewish theology and mysticism. Thus, when I came across an online invitation to a Kabbalah lecture given by Michael Laitman in the fall of 2007, I attended the lecture and purchased two books for further study. In January 2008, I began the ARI online Kabbalah classes. Shortly thereafter, I received an email concerning a comment that I had posted on a Kabbalah & Spirituality Meetup (not founded by Bnei Baruch) from a woman saying that she had intuited from my comment that I was studying with BB and inviting me to meet her for lunch. A few months later (4 to be exact) I was introduced to the local men’s group and asked to contribute $100 per month to help support the local study center. I attended my first Kabbalah congress in May 2008 and got involved with the BB Internet dissemination team writing articles for Internet dissemination and the Kabbalah Today newspaper. I was active in local dissemination and in 2010 became more involved with the learning center, editing and deploying the English Department newsletters and student retention emails. I also began editing children’s materials and contributed five stories to the English children’s book. Throughout this whole time, local maintenance dues were coming from my husband – I was not employed outside the home except to help occasionally in my husband’s business and various temporary jobs (from which I paid the maaser). My husband also became involved with BB studying and attending several congresses; he enjoyed the social aspect of the group for a time but stopped driving to the center for daily lessons as the blaring audio in Russian made it difficult for him to follow the lesson using the headphones. Fast forward to 2011-2012 when Laitman began denigrating American Jews on a regular basis, disseminating a social-political agenda without mentioning Kabbalah, and sending emails “ordering” Americans to vote for Romney, at this point my husband was pretty much DONE with BB. I had gone back to work full-time, continued listening to the daily lessons at home and working a few hours per week on the new Internet dissemination Project World Events. Several months passed and I agreed to meet with the local BB women at a restaurant for dinner where most of the conversation was devoted to their asking me questions about my husband: What can they do to bring him back to the group? Did the men do something wrong that upset him? Who should call him? Etc. with all of them telling me how much they miss my husband. As we were leaving the restaurant, they reminded me to vote for Romney, explaining to me “Rav said that we MUST vote for Romney.” When I shrugged it off, they really pushed me for an answer about it,
which I politely declined (I don’t vote and tell).
Still I kept plugging along and decided to really give it my best effort, to prepare my intention
for the One Global Woman convention. The convention was as usual Russian audio blaring so
loudly that I could barely hear the English translation through the headphones, with the added
bonus of women drinking shots of vodka at 9:00 in the morning, but most surprising was the
roundtable discussion. When I contributed a comment about the candle flame as metaphor for
unification (Baal Hasulam, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot, Item 134) it was
apparently considered some sort of problem or challenge to the groupthink, which prompted one
woman to quite loudly and forcefully direct her comment to me personally, reminding me that
women should only support and push the men to unification.
The final break for me was a post at Laitman.com on March 29, 2013, “Monolithic Unity of the
Team” wherein Laitman himself reveals the lie. Speaking about our children’s future Laitman
admits that what he is promoting is NOT Kabbalah; rather, Laitman says, “This is psychology.”
In this blog post Laitman, who is not a psychologist, promotes what he calls, “psychological
training” for our children. “We can teach this [monolithic unity] to kids so that they will think,
feel, and behave that way,” he says, explaining the monolithic unity by the following gruesome
example: “There is even a tragic example of a submarine that was sinking and half the crew
could have saved themselves, but the other half could not. So, the first half refused to leave the
submarine, and eventually they all died. They felt that they were so connected that they could not
leave their friends!”
Laitman’s promotion of mass suicide as an example for children to emulate is truly terrifying. It
is most certainly NOT Kabbalah. In fact, it is completely contrary to Kabbalah (Zohar 208b:
“Whoever sustains one soul in the world merits life and merits to be united with the Tree of Life”
and it is completely contrary to Judaism (Jerusalem Talmud, Sanhedrin 4:1 (22a): "Whoever
destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is
considered as if he saved an entire world.").
I am broken hearted and deeply sorry that several of my stories for children have been linked to
Laitman Kabbalah Publishers. I sincerely hope and pray that my stories will be received with the
intention I had in writing them: to share my experience of God’s infinite love, the wondrous
blessing of life, and the beauty of creation.
As it is written (Deut. 30:19): "I call heaven and earth to witness you today: I have put before
you life and death, blessing and curse--therefore choose life!"


[www.godlikeproductions.com]

See [www.cultnews.com]

The Rick A. Ross Institute for the Study of Destructive Cults, Controversial Groups, and Movements has officially changed its name to The Cult Education Institute for the Study of Destructive Cults, Controversial Groups and Movements.

The new domain name entry point and gateway to the Internet archives of the institute will soon be culteducation.com.

The Cult Education Institute archives is a library of information about destructive cults, controversial groups and movements, which was initially launched in 1996 and has continued to be under construction and expansion for the past 17 years.

The public message board attached to the The Cult Education Institute will soon only be accessible through the domain name culteducation.com. More than 100,000 entries from the former members of destructive cults, controversial groups and movements and others concerned has accumulated at the board over the past decade. The message board content continues to grow daily and it serves as a free speech zone for those who wish to share their insights and concerns about the topics listed.